"I cut my bowstring. Can you fix it for me?"

Two years ago (January 2021) I had a guy contact me asking me to fix his crossbow and he said he had been struggling to string it and when he couldn't string it properly he "had to" cut the bowstring... And he was asking me if I could fix the bowstring and then string the crossbow for him.

So I read his email, with a degree of amusement, and then didn't bother to answer his email because I wasn't sure how to answer it without sounding very rude and condescending to him about cutting the bowstring.

 

Frankly I don't like to be rude to people, largely because it is unnecessary.

I also don't like "not answering emails" either, because that is also rude, in my opinion, but in his case it was a situation wherein I was damned either way.

But you see my point right?

 

Sometimes I just have to shrug and then not answer an email from a potential client because the person is apparently not that bright to know you cannot just glue a bowstring back together. It doesn't work that way. Once cut the bowstring is basically garbage.

 

But I wanted to rant about this on my blog Project Gridless, but I couldn't do so at the time because the guy obviously reads the blog and might get offended that I was talking about him.

 

So here I am ranting.

 

The difference however is that I wrote and scheduled this post two years ago. I wrote this in January 2021, on Wednesday the 13th, and then I scheduled it two years in advance to appear on January 13th 2023.

I figure by then the guy who cut his bowstring will have done two things: 1. He will have replaced the bowstring by buying a new one. 2. He will have realized you cannot just glue bowstrings back together and that what he was asking for was actually really funny.

It would be like going to Canadian Tire and saying: "Hey, I set the tires on my car on fire... Can you like repair the tires and then put them back on the car? No, I don't want new tires. I just want you to repair the old tires and then put them on the car."

See my point?

Yep, very funny.

But because I don't like being rude to people I decided to delay the publication of this blog post for two years.

Happy Friday the 13th!

DIY Turkey Broadheads, Part I

So I went on Amazon.ca today and decided to browse Turkey Broadheads. Which are... ahem... Expensive. As shown in the image below.

 

And if someone has lots of money to burn, sure, why not.

But consider this...

During December 2022 (the holiday season) the average turkey in Canada was selling for $1.89 CDN per pound.

So for $70 CDN you could get approx. 37 lbs of turkey from the grocery store, which is way cheaper than even the cheapest of the three options listed above from Amazon.

Are there cheaper options available on Amazon? Yes.

Are there cheaper options available in hunting/fishing stores? Yes.

But an idea had been sparked so I decided to do some research. What about DIY turkey broadheads? That would certainly be way cheaper.

Yes, turkey broadheads are waaaaaaay bigger than normal broadheads, but if a teaspoon can be turned into a regular broadhead, certainly there are ways to make a turkey broadhead out of something else?

Certainly someone else has made their own DIY turkey broadheads? After all, what did people used to use before the advent of mass production? They made their own, or hired a blacksmith to make them.

There are unusual broadheads out there in this topic too, but the only ones I seem to be able to find are those made in factories

I haven't been able to find a single DIY / homemade turkey broadhead.

As far as I can tell nobody is making them, or if they are making them, they're not bragging about them and showing them off online.

Plenty of fancy ones to choose from, but I haven't found a single example of a homemade DIY turkey broadhead.

So I guess I have no choice. I need to make one myself.

The good news is I do have some cold chisels with which to do the job. I just need the metal and to come up with a suitable design for cutting and then sharpening my own DIY turkey broadhead.

So stay tuned for Part II, because this may take awhile before I have something worth showing (and bragging about).

Cooking Tip - What to do with Cranberries, Raspberries and Lemons?

Let's pretend for a moment that you have an off grid home and have easy access to cranberries and raspberries.

Plus, let's pretend you also have access to a lemon tree (either outdoors or in a greenhouse). Lemon trees don't normally grow in Canada, but in the USA (basically anywhere south of Ohio) you can grow them easily.

Or maybe you just happen to have all 3 things in your fridge. Here's what you can do:

Make pink lemonade!

The pink lemonade "flavour" actually comes from cranberry and raspberry juice that is added to the lemonade.

So all you need to do is use any extra raspberries and cranberries you have, combine it with lemon juice and sugar... and you've got yourself pink lemonade.

Add some ice and you've got a nice cold drink to enjoy this summer.

 (Add some vodka and you've got a drink suitable for inviting friends over to play board games, cards, etc.)